Machine for knocking up sheets and the like, particularly paper sheets.



W. C. AYLARD 6: J. P. PETTY.

MACHINE FOR KNOCKING UP SHEETS AND THE LIKE, PARTICULARLY PAPER SHEETS-- APPLICATION FILED NOV.23. 1914.

1 ,279,4:93. Patented Sept. 24, 1918.

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MACHINE FOR KNOCKING UP SHEETS AND-THE LIKE, PARTICULARLY PAPER SHEETS- APPLICATION FILED NOV. 23 1914.

1 279,493. Patented Sept. '24, 1918.

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MACHINE FOR KNOGKING UP SHEETS AND THE LIKE, PARTICULARLY PAPER SHEETS.

' APPLICATION FILED NOV. 23. 19M.-

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APPLICATION ru.:0 rmv.2a' 1914. 1,279,493,. Patented Sept; 24, 19-18;

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irrnn STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM CHRISTOPHER AYLARD A D JOHN PAXTON PETT'Y, or nE'AnIivG, ENGLAND.

MACHINE FOB, KNOCKING.UP SHEETS AND 'THE LIKE, PARTICULARLY PAPER SHEETS. i

Specificatioirof Letters Patent. Patented Sept, 24, 1918 Application filed November 23, 1914. Serial No. 873,597.

T all'whom it may concern:

Be it known that We,-IV1LLIAM CHRISTO- PHER AYLARD and-JOHN PAXTON PETTY, sub jects of His Majesty the King of England, residing at Reading, in the'county of Berk- V shire, England, have invented new and useful Improvements in Means for Knocking Up Sheets and the like, Particularly Paper Sheets, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention deals With means for mechanically performing the process generally known as knocking up sheets of paper and like articles delivered from printing or other machinery or for other like operations. For efi'ecting this purpose we propose to adopt means to keep sheets of paper or other like objects ina live or vibratory condition during the Whole or-a considerable portion of the time employed in knocking up while at the same time employing means for directing thesheets toward'the lay edge or edges or their equivalent, which last object may be very conveniently attained by inclining the board or the like on which the sheets lie toward such edge or edges or may be obtained by the action of moving joggers or fences, neither of which method is, of course, in itself new. The live or vibratory condition of the sheets may be obtained 'by acting on the board either directly or indirectly by any nieanswhich will transmit to the sheets the necessary vibration."

By the term a live condition When used in the specification is meant a'con'dition in which the sheets do not lie or slide over each other with an even surface-but whereon the contrary there are a series of waves or vibrations produced in the sheets which cause at any rate the upper sheets of the pile to haveslight local movements especially in a vertical direction which either by breaking adhesion or otherwise facilitates the movement of these sheets in any desired direction. The object of the apparatus employed is to produce such live condition and therefore the mounting of the boardor the like or the means of acting on it may vary greatly. For heavier work we find it preferable to employ a spring mounting or its equivalent for the board while for lighter work such spring mounting may be'unnecessary, as a non-spring mounted board of suitable construction may yet be able to Vibrate sufliciently to produce the necessary: live condition. i 1 The vibrations are obtained by communicatingto the board a series Iof'impulses, as for example by deliveringblows or by'suddenly checking its movement, The number of suchimpulses necessarily varies with the construction of the board and with the num- 7 her and weight of the sheets being knocked up and where the board is not spring mounted a greater numberofyimpluses in a given time 1s generally required than Where spring mounting is used.

A convenient construction is mounting the board elastically at the corners on cylindrical spiral compression springs, orhanging it from tension springs, or mounting the board centrally on a universal joint with cylindrical tension springs pulling underlthe table at the corners. Such board: may be subjected to alternating blows thedirection of which lie in the same or different vertical planes or at different points of the board or the board may be "subjected to suddenly'arrested tilting movements.

Again we may employ a series of cams under the table with which a revolving organ co-acts to impart a series of jumps or impulsesor suddenly arrested tilting movements to the table; and bymaking the fall off edges of the cams steep the blows resulting from the revolvingorgan leavinglany cam is emphasized; In the hereinafter described embodiment of this form of board, suddenly arrested tiltingmovements in different vertical planes are given to the board, but such tilting movements may be in'one vertical plane only. e r

In any case either by the movement of the board to secure the blows, or otherwise by a' special movement of the board, there may be accompanyinggeneral' movement of the sheets in the plane ofthe board, the general movement preferred being an orbital or eccentric movement.

ner may be promoted by giving the board somewhat yielding blows such as would be imparted by tapping or striking with or against a hollow organ having an elastic wall inclosing air, or with or against solid or perforate elastic heads or stops. Some or all of the edges or fences may be made in perforated or grilled form and the proc ess may be assisted by means of blasts of air produced by convenient mechanism. The blows or movements may be parallel with the board or oblique or normal to this or an association or a combination of all or any of these may be effected.

The sheets orthe like are preferably fed to the board or to the receptacle in the form of a stream of overlapping sheets in which the top sheet is first taken in by the feeder and is thereafter turned over for individual delivery or dropping onto the board, but a suitable number of the sheets may be dropped or placed simultaneously upon the board or into the receptacle, or the sheets may be so fed upon the board or into the receptacle that a gap exists between each sheet and that immediately preceding and succeeding it, the feeding of the sheets in the form of a stepped sequence as before de scribed being preferable as a greater number of sheets can be knocked up in a given time.

In order to secure a proper continuous feeding of the sheets an air blast or air current may beintroduced under the sheets as they are fed onto the board so that in cases where the stepped sequence of sheets is for any reason interrupted the sheet immediately following the gap is prevented from overtaking the preceding sheet and passing thereunder to fold it over on itself. In a convenient arrangement for this purpose the movable fence or jogger in the line of the feed is attached to a bellows to thereby auto matically produce the air blast or air current as it moves back and forth.

For the purpose of compensating for various weights of paper the expedient is proferably adopted of arranging for he force of the blows to be adjustable, one convenient arrangement under the control of the machine minder being referred to hereafter.

For'the purpose of making our said invention better understood we describe with the aid of the accompanying drawings two machines which have been actually made but it is to be understood that these are merely described as showing certain methods of carrying out our invention and that our invention is in no way confined to the spe cific machines or to one containing all or any of the features therein described.

In the drawings c Figure 1 is a perspective view of a machine according to this invention and Fig. 2 an enlarged detail view thereof.

Fig. 3 is a sectional side view of a further construction of machine according to this invention.

Fig. 4 a sectional plan view on line Ar\ of Fig. 3, and

Fig. 5 a front view partly broken away.

Figs. 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 are detail views of the machine illustrated by Figs. 3 to 5.

Figs. 13 and 14 depict two forms of sheet feeders which have been found to work well.

The machine illustrated by Fig. 1 coinprises a table 1, which is maintained in con stant vibratory or other comparable movement.

Vibrating table is preferably set or adjusted to have a general inclination downward toward one corner there being provided barriers or stops 3, 4 for the sheets as they drift down to this corner.

In combination with the above mentioned slope of the vibrating table, there is a pit 2 formed of sides all of which or but'for preference as shown two of which 5, 6 have independent vibratory or beating motion whereby the formation of an even pile is facilitated. The vibration or motion of the table 1 is as shown such as results from the upward impulse on each corner or selected points in succession produced by a rotating head 7 underneath, the head 7 having one projection 8 which successively engages with or bears against projections 9 under the corners of the table 1. A device of more definite leading power consists of a rotating head under the table 1 the rotating head 7 having two rollers or wheels 8 on opposite parts of its diameter and these act in the following manner:

The table 1 is on a universal joint 10 and at the outset it may be regarded as horizontal under the corner corresponding to the lay sides or fences 3, 4 of the pit 2 and under the sides adjacent to this corner there are no projections, while there is a cam or projection 9 under the corner of the table corresponding to the open corner of the pit or the corner on which are movable jogging 5, 6, and there is also a cam projection 9 un der each of the sides corresponding to this last mentioned corner.

The action of the revolving head 7 is no as follows j The revolving head 7 is secured to and re volves with the revolving shaft 18, which is driven by any suitable prime mover through the shaft 19. I

As one of the two rollers 8 on the revolving head 7 engages successively on the series of three cams 9 under the higher corner of the pit there is a general sloping down of the table 1 toward the lay corner and this with a series of three jumps or impulses, the second roller 8 on the revolving head taking the blow or thrust caused by the forward tilting of the table 1. Next the second roller 8 on the revolvinghead' 7 acts on the cams or'projections 9 and the firstroller8 bears on the even face of theunder side of the table. l

" Thus there isa production of a serles of jerks which tendto lead thesheets down to the lay corner and the blow resultlng from the roller leaving a cam or pro]ect1on 1s emphasized by making the fall-0E edge of the cam steep as shown and by theu'se of the springs 11 which pull under the'table at the corners. i

The tilting movements of' the board act also to. 'causethe sheets or the like to move bodily orgenerally in their own plane If desired the table' lcan be further subj ected to a blow or a seriesof blows wh ch is or are delivered in a plane of the table. For this purpose an abutment or 'abutments which maybe the side frames 12 of the machine is or are provided. against which the side or sides or a corner or the corners of the vibrating table strikes by virtue of horizontal or substantially horizontal swinging movements about the universal joint l0; this blow or these blows being delivered in the planeof the table or in a plane which is substantially parallel tothe plane of the table.

A highly sensitive condition, or live condition of the sheets is produced by. the above described device so that apart from the tendency of the sheets to move toward the lay corner thereis a ready response of the sheets to a reciprocatingor tapping or jogging action of the gages or screens 5 6 on the open sides of the pit 2.

A desirable v, reciprocating action of the joggers or the moving plates or parts which tap the sheets into" position against the lay edges can be realized by such mechanical device as a cam and pin drive 13 for the outward movement and a spring action 141; for the inward movement, the cam and pin arrangement being such that the moving joggers work alternately, 6., one is moving toward the sheets while the other is moving away from the sheets.

Theprefer'red arrangement for feeding the sheets from a feed board is illustrated in Figs. 13 and 14. By'this arrangement 'a rapid individual delivery or dropping of sheets from a pile is obtained with but a simple stroking action directed toward the taking in rollers to directly pass the sheet in stepped sequence between the taking in rollers with the leading sheet of anysuccessive pair of sheets lyinguppermost.

" This is accomplished in said preferred arrangement by a sheet feeding apparatus formed so as to turn over the stepped sequence of'sheets'in the course of their travel to the delivery or knocking up board to render the leader of the successive and lapped 7 sheets always the undermost sheet at the delivery 'end of the machine whereby such sheet is automatically freed from the stroweight of the paper;

ceeding' sheets for" indiyiduah deli eryper dropping onto the knocklngflup board: a

designates afeedboardfor the 'reception'o'f a pile of sheets bto be individually delivered to the knocking up board and 0, d indicate a double endless blanket or band or tape carrier running over triads of rollers e, e 6

' As depicted in the drawing (Fi a and f, f respectively, the course of the can riers depicted being first-away from tlie'feed board or frontof the machine and then returning toward the front of the" machine where delivery is made at an appropriate point below the level ofthe feed board." a

The "companion rollers 6311f, serve the Now by hand or mechanical,

tion on the trailing portionsof successive sheets; this stroking. being directed toward the taking in rollers e, f 'the sheet's are stepped forward as indicated at h and passed v.

directly in stepped sequencebetween the rollerse f. The stepped sequence or stream of sheets 'is' then gripped, by: the double blanket orband or tape syste1n'0,id," and is carried thereby around the roller f to the delivery'rollers e f Thus the top sheet at the receiving end is first taken" ink and is thereafter turned over, being thereby automatically freed" from the succeeding'sheets for' individualdelivery or dropping as shown at V. v v

The companion rollersfiand the blankets or bands or tapeswill bear-ranged in well understood manner to hold the successive sheets with sufiicient firmness to:maintain the steppingv during the carriage of the sheets thereby, and in the travel of the lapped sheets-between the rollers any adhesions existing between'the sheets would be broken by an arching of the paper.

Fig- 145 illustrates a more" compact arrangement compared with that shown by Fig. 13, but functioning in exactly the same manner, the constructional difference being that the turn back of the endless blankets 'or their equivalent is effected about the a roller f and one roller, viz; f is dispensed with.

; In Fig.1 a similar feeding of the sheets is indicated; these being fedfrom a'suitably;

'locatedfeed'board not shown between two endless traveling bands 1 5, 16, the system running around transverseand' suitably reivolved rol-lers l7, by which the sheets are inverted and caused to travel to the vibrat- 1ng table 1 1n the form of an overlapping 80 taking in rollers andth'ecoinpanion rollers I i are mounted preferably in wells 33 of the stream of sheets. The bands 15, 16, can be tightened in any convenient manner, but preferably this is done by spring pressure, The rollers are preferably rotated in any convenient manner from the driving shaft 19.

The machine illustrated by Figs. 3 to 12 comprises a base 20 supporting a pair of side'frames 21, 22 and at the front a cross member 23 having forwardly extending brackets 24 at each end is provided. transverse driving shaft 25 driven from any suitable source of power is mounted in the frame and furnished with three eccentrics 26, 26, 27, the connecting rods 28 28 of the outer eccentrics 26, 26 whereof are linked to the brackets 24, 24 of the cross member 23.

A pair of trasverse shafts 29, 30 are connected to or near to the forward and rear ends of the connecting rods 28, 28 respectively and carry a perforate table or frame 31 by meansfof four bearings 32 depending from the underside of the table,the arrangement being preferably such as to admit of a simultaneous lateral movement of the table 31. p j p Onthe rotation of the driving shaft 25 the lower table 31 will be moved back and forth longitudinally of the machine and in virtue of the eccentrics 26, 26 on the one hand and the linked connection of the eccentric connecting rods '28, 28 ,on theother hand the table will move in a vertical plane in a curved or partially curved path.

At the four corners the table is furnished with wells or boxes for the reception of stops furnished on the underside of an upper table or board 35 hereinafter referred to. The first mentioned or lower table 31 is further furnished with recesses 36, 37 preferably dovetailed arranged normal to each other and to adjacent sides "of such table 31, for the reception of slides 38, 39 for the purpose presently referred to. V

Cylindric spiral compression springs 40 lower table 31 to support and carry the upper table 35, the lower ends of these springs 40 being secured in any suitable manner to the lower table 31 while the upper ends of the springs are fastened or secured in any suitable manner to the upper table or board 35; The upper table is thus vibratably and movably mounted on the lower table. In order to limit the movement of the upper table 35 in relation to the lower table 31 and secure the delivery of blows, or a jerking or sudden arrest of the upper table the undersideof the latter is furnished with stops 34 which may be located adjacent to the springs 40 but arranged so as not to interfere with the action of the springs. These stops 34 fit into the wells 33 of the lower table 31 and are of such dimensions as to leavea free ends to the dove-tailed slides 38, 39

before referred to each ,of these slides .bflr ing furnished with strikers or fingers'42, 43 for alternately imparting longitudinal and transverse impulses to the upper table 35,

These strikers or fingers are preferably rubbBI-faced as shown at .44 and 4,5 respectively and strike against the sides 46 47 respectively of an opening in the upper table 35 or against suitable surfaces or stops on the underside of such table. 7 J

For the purpose of reciprocating the lid s 8, 3.9 in the low r t le 31 the lo gitudinally moving slide 38 has secured to its underside a lug 48 which projects through a slit or opening 49 in the lowertable 31 and which is linked through a universal joint .50 and a link element 53 to a rearwardly extended bracket 51 fixed to the before mentioned cross member A connecting rod 52 is secured to the medial eccentric 27 and the freeend ,of this rod is pivotally connected to' the link element 5310f such slide 38 so that on the rotation of the driving shaft 25, h link will. be nsc le to thereby cause the slide 38 to move back and forth, and through the medium ,of the bell crank lever 41 the transverse slide 39 will also be reciprocatedQ 501 if preferred the longitudinally moving slide 38 may be reciprocated from above the surface of the table. 7

The force of blows or the like delivered to the upper table 35 by the before men tioned strikers or fingers 42, 43 can be suitably regulated or modified. Conveniently such regulation or modification of the force of the blows or the like is afforded by adjustable slopes 54, 55 whereby the distance between the strikers onfingers 42 or 43 and the inner sides 46 or 47 of the opening of the upper table 35 or the said surfaces'or stops can be increased or decreased as desired.

In addition to the longitudinal movement the lower table .31 is preferably also subjected to a lateral movement and for this purpose a bell crank lever 56 is fixed to one of the outer eccentric connecting rods 28, one end of the bell crank lever 56 being pivotally secured to the lower table 31 and the other end of the said lever being linked to the corresponding side frame or standard 22.

The upper table 35 is preferably given a slope to one corner to facilitate the movement of the sheets or the like toward this corner which is made the lay corner, it

being desirable in such a case that the upper table be supported by two or more springs or a stronger L1111l},SP1'111g at ithls. corner,

and in order to prevent ,undue move.- ment of the table 35 springs 57 are provided,

two of the joggers 60, 61 are movableandtwo 62,63 ordinarily the tworconstituting the lay edges are stationary. The stationary joggers 62, 68 are mounted onslides by means of which they=may be fixedr inany desired position, while the movable joggers 60, .6 1 project through the upper table 35 and arev fixed to the slides 38 and 39 respectively of the lower table 31 and are moved toward or away from the center of the top board 58 by the movement of such slides in the lower table.

, In order to insure a proper delivering of the sheets or the like an air-blast or air current may be introduced behind the sheets.

7 furnished with openings 64 through which so that on the inward'movement of the fence air is drawn between the fence and; the stationary board and on the outward movement .of the fence air is expelled through the' opening64 in thefence A' feed table 68 is fixed at or adjacent to the top of the side frames or standards 21, 22 from which the sheets or the like may be fed' between two endless traveling bands 69, 70 according to the preferred arrangement hereinbefore set forth in detail, the system running around transverse rollers 71 by which the sheets are inverted and caused to travel to the top Q board '58 in stepped sequence for individual, delivery convenient manner, I but preferablythis is done by spring pressure The rollersfare' preferably rotated from, the driving shaft. 1' Briefly the operation of machine is. as

follows :ji V y i a The 'sheets are fed into the pit, onthetop board 58 formed by the fences60, 61, 62, 63

by means of'the traveling bands, ,69, 70 and theshe ets this being caused by yibratory.

labor.

motion ofthe upper table 35 set up by the rapid series of blows imparted to the upper table both directly bythe strikers or fingers L3 and alsoaby the rebounding action of the springs eLOsupporting theupper table 35 on the lower table 31, which: causes the stops 84 on the underside of the-upper table to repeate'dlyjstrike against the sides of the wells 33.; 5 y I I Accompanying this vibratory motion .of the .upper-table35qis a generalorbital or horizontalrvibratory movement of the sheets in the-planevof'the table, this movement arising from they companion motions .ofv the v lowertable;

With f a machine constructed substantially as-abovedes'cribed in detail according to Figs. 3 to; l2 andwith the sheetsfed in the form of a steppedweb and'with the drivingshaft driven at a speed of 80 revolutions per minute the knocking up, or dressing, 0r even piling of the sheetshas been accomplished in a manner which surpasses anythingwhich can be accomplished by hand Thus theapplication of the method extends to the dressing-of sheetslfor punching'as in themanufactureof paper labels where the dressing of the sheets must be performed with special, exactness.

The invention is applicable for use in producing an even pilingof envelops, paper bags, sheets of cardboard andv comparable flat objects.

It isto bevunderstood that where we refer v in the specificationor claims" to knocking up. :we mean a'process for producing'even piles of paper or the'like: whether such proc ess is technically known as fknocking up -or otherwise, and-where we refer'tosheets' of paper we also include like articles which may require to be evenly piled. 1.v H6 vingthus described our invention what we-claimv and vdesire-3'00 secure by Letters Patentis:@, 1 l- 1. In a device of the general nature of thatherei'n described, in :combination, supporting means-providing a substantially even surface for a pile of sheets, a mounting for saidsupporting means adapted to "permit to it an ;up-and-down vibratory movement, driving, means, 7 means driven from said drivingv means andz'adaptedto impartto saidsuppor-ting means 'alrapid vibra tory movement, "and means adapted to en'- gage the edges ofa pluralityiof sheets sup ported by saidsupporting mean's'and :direct them into registryi- 1, 1 c 2,- In aldevicle ofthe general nature of that herein described, in. combination, a supporting member adapted to receive and support in substantially flat form,-a' pile of sheets, means, :adapted'to subject said 1 sheets tovibration I in a direction itransverselxof their planes ,fand; means, adapted simultaneously to act upon, certain edges,- of said sheets; to

force them into substantially registering posit-ion.

3. In a device of the general nature of that herein described, in combination, a supporting device provided with apair of edge supports angu'larly disposed with respect to each other, said edge supports being adapted respectively to engage contiguous edges of the sheets of a pile upon said device and said device being downwardly inclined in the direction of the corner 01 said sheets formed by said contiguous edges, and means adapted to vibrate a pile of sheets mounted upon said supporting device.

4. In a device of the general nature of that herein described, incombination, a support adapted to receive a pile of sheets, means adaptedto vibrate said support inanup-and-down direction, and means acting simultaneously with said vibration upon two contiguous edges of said sheets tending toforce them into registry,

5. In a device of the general nature of that herein described, in combination, a support providing a substantially even surface for a pile of sheets, means adapted to vibrate said support fiatwise, a plurality of devices respectively co act'ing with two contiguous edges of a pile restingflatly on said support, and means adapted to impart vibratory movements to said devices. i

6. In a device of the general nature of that herein described, in combination,means adapted to act upon a pile" of sl'ie'ets-tomaintaintheir surfaces out of exact parallelism,- and means simultaneously tending to urge said sheets into registry. I

7 In adevice of the general nature of that herein described, in combination, a re-' siliently mounted support adapted to receive and support a pile of sheets, means adapted to vibrate said support and means adapted to act upon the edges of said sheets to tend to force them into registry.

8. In a device of the general nature of that herein described, in combination, a sheet support, a member upon whichsaid support is resiliently mounted, means adapted to' limit the relative movement of said support and said member, and means adapted to vibrate said member;

9. In a device of the general nature of that herein described, incombination, means adapted to support a pile of sheets of paper, means adapted to subject the pile t'o vibration in a direction transverse of the plane of the sheets, means adapted toengage one edge portion of said pile, and means adapt-ed to impart an intermittent edgewise movement to the sheets While said vibratory movement continued.

' 10. In a device of the general nature of that herein described, in combination, means adapted to support'a pileof sheets of paper, a pair of members adapted respectively to engage contiguous edge portions of said pile, means adapted to sub1e0t the p1le to vibration in a direction transverse of the plane of the sheets, and means adapted While said n 'movements in the directions of each of said stops, means adapted to vibrate said support in" a direction transverse of the plane 7 of the sheets of said pile, and means adapted to feed sheets in serial relation to said support. r

12'. In a device of the general nature of that herein described, in combination, means adapted to support a pile of sheets in a position with each of two contiguous edges downwardly inclined and its plane inclined to the vertical, means adapted to engage each of said edges, and means adapted to vibrate said pile in and up and down direction.

13. Ina device of the general nature of that herein described, in combination, means engaging the lower fl'at surface of a pile of sheets in a position with each of two contiguous-edges' downwardly inclined and supporting the same by said lower surface and said edges, means adapted to engage each of said edges, and means adapted intermittently to tend to force together each of said engaging means and the edges with which'it contacts. V v r 14. In a device of the general nature of that herein described, in combination, a' sheet support, a member upon which said support is resiliently mounted,means adapted tolimit the relative movement of said support and said member in a direction edgewise of the; sheets mounted thereon, and means adapted to vibrate said support in said edgewise direction. I v

15. In a device of the general nature of that herein described, in combination, a support, means adapted to feed onto said support a substantially alined series 'of over lapping sheets, and means adapted to act on .the edges of a pile of sheets on said support to force them intoregistry. I

16. In a device o-fthe general nature of that herein described, in "combination, a support, means adapted to' feed onto said support a substantially alined series of overlapping sheets, means adapted to force each of the sheets of said series into a curved form before it reaches said support to break down adhesions between the sheets and means adapted to acton the edges ofa pile of said sheets on said support to force them into registry. r

iao

17. In a device of the general nature of that herein'described, in combination, means adapted to support a pile of sheets in a position with each of two contiguous edges downwardly inclined, means adapted to engage each of said edges, and means adapted to impart to a pile of sheets on said support an intermittent movement in a direction transverse to their planes.

that herein described,in combination, means adapted to support a pile of sheets in a position with each of two contiguous edges downwardly inclined, means adapted to engage each of said edges, means adapted to impart to a pile of sheets on said support an intermittent movement in a direction transverse to their planes, and means adapted intermittently to tend to force together each of said engaging means and the edges which it contacts. 7

19. In a device of the general nature of that herein described, in combination, a sheet support, a member upon which said support is resiliently mounted, means adapted to limit the relative movement of said support and said member in a direction edgewise of the sheets mounted thereon, means adapted to vibrate said support in said edgewise direction, and means adapted to vibrate said sheet support in a direction transverse to the plane of the sheets mounted thereon. a

20. In a device of the general nature of that herein described, in combination, a supporting member adapted to receive and support in substantially flat form a pile of sheets, means adapted to subject said sheets to vibration in a direction transverse of their planes, means adapted simultaneously to act upon certain edges of said sheets to force them into substantially registering position,

, r and means adapted to feed to said support- 18. In a device of the general nature of' ing member a series of sheets in overlapped sequence.

21. In a device of the general nature of that herein described, in combination, a support adapted to holda pile of sheets in a position with each of two contiguous edges downwardly inclined, means resiliently mounting said support, means adapted to engage each of said edges, means adapted to limit the relative movement of said support and the member on which it is mounted in a direction substantially edgewise of the sheets, means adapted intermittently to move said support in an edgewise direction, and means adapted to impart an up and down vibratory movementto the sheets upon said support.

In testimony whereof we aflix our signatures in presence of two witnesses.

' WILLIAM CHRISTOPHER AYLARD.

JOHN PAXTON PETTY.

Witnesses HERBERT WALTER MEADowoRor'r,

ALBERT Y. BARNES.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the commissioner of Patents,

' Washington, D. 0. 

